The new mid-to-large-size SUV will be a key weapon in Onvo's drive to boost deliveries next year, a local media report said.
Nio's (NYSE: NIO) sub-brand Onvo will launch two new models next year, after its first model, the L60 SUV (sport utility vehicle), hit the market last month, according to a new report.
Onvo's second model will be a six- or seven-seat SUV expected to be released by the end of the first quarter of 2025, local tech media Leiphone said in a report yesterday.
Deliveries of the new SUV model will begin around May, but a possible delay cannot be ruled out, the report said.
It's worth noting that the timeline mentioned in the report conflicts with what Nio's management has previously said, so it should be taken with a pinch of salt.
The day after the L60's launch, Nio founder, chairman, and CEO William Li told media outlets, including CnEVPost, in Hefei, Anhui province, on September 20 that Onvo would launch 1 new model every year.
Onvo would launch a mid-to-large-size SUV in 2025, a model that would be a revolutionary product and bring surprises, with deliveries to begin in the third quarter of 2025, Li said at the time.
“If you think the L60 is good, then this new model is a much more competitive product,” Li said.
For Onvo, focus shouldn't just be on the L60, which is just a “stepping stone” to the brand's more powerful models to come, Leiphone said in the report yesterday, citing a source with knowledge of the matter who went by the pseudonym Zhao Wen.
Next year's SUV will be more important than the L60, and by Onvo's pricing standards, the six-seat version will be priced under RMB 300,000 yuan ($42,140), Zhao said.
After removing the price of batteries using the BaaS (battery as a service) battery rental service, Onvo's two SUVs next year will cover a price range of RMB 140,000 to RMB 220,000, meeting consumer demand for both five- and six-seat models, Zhao said.
The new mid-to-large-size SUV will be Onvo's key weapon to boost deliveries next year, Zhao said, according to Leiphone.
Onvo is also expected to announce a sedan model in the second half of 2025, but it won't be a big help to overall volume next year, the report said, without citing any sources.
Onvo launched the L60 on September 19 in Hefei, and deliveries of the five-seat mid-size SUV began on September 28.
The L60 starts at RMB 206,900 including the battery pack, RMB 43,000 less than the Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model Y's current starting price of RMB 249,900 in China.
When purchased on a BaaS basis, the Onvo L60 starts at RMB 149,900, with a monthly battery fee of RMB 599 or RMB 899 depending on the battery pack capacity.
The L60's production capacity is expected to be able to reach 5,000 units in October and 10,000 units in December, Li said on September 20.
By January 2025, the model's production capacity would reach at least 16,000 units and 20,000 units by March, Li said at the time.
The Leiphone report also touched on the challenge Onvo is currently facing -- the number of sales channels.
Onvo's first 105 offline stores opened on September 1, covering 55 cities, but the current number of channels is far from enough in terms of Onvo's planned single-month sales target, the report said.
The sub-brand's store count is set to increase to around 250 in the first quarter of 2025, and in addition to opening new stores, Onvo will also explore partnerships with third parties, according to the report.
Nio will try to get dealers to provide stores and renovations, and then rent the stores to it, but the ultimate effectiveness of this approach is unknown, the report said.
At the launch of the L60, Onvo's president Alan Ai said Onvo had 120 stores at the time, with a goal of expanding to 200 by the end of the year, covering 68 cities.
In terms of delivery targets, Li said on a September 5 earnings call that Nio hoped the Onvo L60 would hit 20,000 deliveries in a single month sometime in 2025.
($1 = RMB 7.1199)
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